At ESEA Markup, Senate Committee Wrestles With Title I Amendments

April 15, 2015Lauren CameraEducation Week

At the end of Day One of the Senate education committee’s markup of a bipartisan bill to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, senators debated and voted on an entire slate of amendments that fall into the category of Title I, the bulk of which includes funding for low-income students, state accountability systems, and testing.

The Tuesday markup lacked the fireworks of previous attempts to rewrite the law as senators punted on more than a dozen of the more-controversial amendments. They did so out of deference to Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., who negotiated for more than two months to broker the compromise legislation.